Her Knight In Shining Flannel
by Myriddin
Summary: Jon x Sansa. Modern AU. A series of ficlets featuring single mom and divorcee Sansa Stark, her adorable son Eddrick, and babysitter/potential stepfather of the year, Jon Snow.
1. Mischief

**Mischief  
** By Myriddin

The last thing Sansa expected when she returned home was for her brother's best friend to come barreling into the front hall wearing Robb's old football pads and a tin foil hat. They stared at each other for a moment before Sansa found herself blurting out. "What on earth are you wearing?"

Jon smiled sheepishly and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off before he could. A loud "Rawr," announced the arrival of her young son. Eddrick was wearing his favorite dinosaur footie pajamas and a handmade mask of what she thought may be a dragon. Given the quality of the art, she guessed it hadn't been Eddrick's handiwork.

Curling his fingers into makeshift claws, the child lunged at Jon with a roar. The boys play-tussled for a few moments, Eddrick knocking from Jon's hand what looked to be a paper towel roll wrapped in aluminum (a sword?). Jon fell back against the wall with a dramatic groan as her son wrapped himself around his leg, refusing to be moved. "I got you! Now you's going to be eated. Rawr!"

"I'm going to be eaten?" Jon questioned with a exaggerated gasp of shock. Sansa appreciated how he subtly corrected Eddrick's verbs without calling attention to it. "Please, Great Dragon, I don't want to be eaten!"

Sansa was unable to hold back a chuckle at their dramatics and Eddrick finally noticed her presence. With a grin of delight, he abandoned his draconic mischief and launched himself at his mother. Sansa caught him easily, more than used to his gymnastics.

"Momma, momma, look! I's a dwagon!"

"You are a dragon! And you managed to beat a big mean knight all by yourself." She smirked at Jon and he grinned in reply, his earlier embarrassment gone. Eddrick's cheer was infectious that way.

It was amazing to see Eddrick interacting so easily with a male adult. Besides being a cheating bastard, her soon-to-be ex-husband had been a neglectful father at best. After she had caught Harry in bed with his secretary, she gave in to her first instinct- running to big brother. Robb hadn't hesitated to take them in, supported by his best friend and roommate. He and Jon rented a comfortable little house they immediately welcomed Sansa and her son into, installing a daybed for Eddrick in the third bedroom they used as an office and setting Sansa up in Jon's room despite her protests.

Sansa studied the man who willingly gave up his bed for a lumpy couch, who played imaginative games with a lonely three-year-old, even taking the time and effort to make creative props, and her smile softened.

"Robb's been grilling on the deck. I hope hamburgers are okay? Dinner should be just about done."

"Sounds good. We should get some food in this monster's stomach before he decides to eat you again." Eddrick squealed with delight as she tickled him before pressing a kiss to his blonde curls and setting him down. She and Jon watched as he raced off toward the backyard. Jon looked adorably perplexed.

"Where does he get all that energy?"

"Hollow legs," Sansa quipped, "Kids store extra energy there. Rickon was proof enough of that."

"Isn't that the truth." Jon gave her another smile before moving to follow after Eddrick. Sansa caught a whiff of his aftershave as he passed- cedar and sandalwood. It was a clean, woodsy scent, surprisingly enticing and fitting, considering he worked outdoors. It certainly agreed with him, she decided, watching the play of tight back muscles as he slipped out of the pads and set them aside. Her eyes dropped again of their own accord, mentally praising whoever had invented skin-tight jeans.

All that time she'd spent searching for her Prince Charming...maybe she should have been looking closer to home.


	2. Gratitude

The Prompt: Imagine Person A is a busy single parent of a toddler and B often helps them out to babysit and housewatch. One day A invites B out to dinner together with the child as their token of gratitude for helping them out. During the dinner, A's child loudly exclaims that A is in madly love with B, making B flustered and A extremely embarrassed. Intrigued, B asks A's child how they know this information, to which they say that it's because "A never shuts up talking about B all day."

"Sorry I'm late."

Sansa looked up from where she had been coloring with Eddrick to greet the new arrival. Jon gave her a smile as he shrugged out of his heavy winter coat, revealing a thick fisherman's sweater and those tight jeans she loved so much. "Don't worry about it, Jon. We're just glad you made it."

"Yeah, yeah," Eddrick cheered from his seat, not looking up from where he was intently working on a sketch of something Sansa couldn't quite identify. Jon reached over to ruffle his hair.

"It would be a little rude not to attend my own thank you dinner."

It had been several months, toward the end of autumn, when Sansa had finally saved enough to move her and Eddrick into a place of their own. Consequently, it also meant she worked longer hours than Eddrick had ever been apart from her, as she had been a stay-at-home mother during her marriage to Harry.

Now they were deep in the heart of winter, off-season for the national park Jon worked at as a ranger, and the sweetheart of the man seated across from her had stepped up as her unofficial nanny and housekeeper. Considering how meager the pay he would accept was, a dinner out at a decent restaurant was the least she could do.

The waitress came to take their orders soon after and they settled down to wait for their meals. She and Jon chatted easily, Eddrick delighted when Jon folded his placemat into an origami dragon, Sansa enchanted with the rare, warm smile that graced Jon's lips.

It was when Sansa was setting up Eddrick's grilled cheese and apple slices that her son put the finishing touches on his masterpiece. "Look, Momma!"

Sansa looked at the paper obediently. "I see, baby. Do you want to tell me about it?"

"It's our family! There's you and Unca Robb, that's me and that's Jon."

She watched Jon hid a smile behind the rim of his waterglass. "Jon, too, hmm?"

"Uh-huh. Unca Robb says Jon's family even if he's not a Stark like us. It's 'cause we love him." He gave his hero a wide, adoring grin. "I loves you, Jon. Momma loves you too!"

She heard Jon choke a moment before she sputtered with surprise. "W-what?"

Her three-year-old looked up at her with an expression too mature for his age, the 'really, you still don't get it?' she had seen on Robb's face far too often (her brother was usually the one in the wrong).

"You talks about him all the time, Momma!"

Sansa was sure she flushed all the way to the roots of her hair, but the intrigued look Jon cast her way promised to be worth her embarrassment.


	3. Nerves

**Nerves  
** By Myriddin

"I like you, Sansa."

Jon couldn't remember the last time he had been this nervous. Anticipation and a not entirely type of fear welled up inside him, knotting his stomach and tightening his throat. It rendered him frozen as he stood before the object of his affection, the awkwardness of his confession hanging in the air between them. It was a discomfort that had been growing in the week since Eddrick's inadverent revelation, a week spent with Jon attempting to address the topic and Sansa dodging his attempts.

Now she had finally overcome her mortification enough to stop dodging. Her expression was shell-shocked, her mouth opening once, and then closing again with her uncertainty of how to respond to him.

"Jon…I…" She looked away, biting her lip nervously, "Can we really do this?"

He took a hesitant step forward, gently taking her hand. She shivered under the touch and he frowned, rubbing her arms as if to warm her. It was her eyes that warmed, shyly revealing the feeling she was so afraid to pursue with him. "It's okay if you don't want…I know I'm not-"

Sansa cut him off by pressing a finger to his lips, a shy smile curling her own. "You're a wonderful man, Jon. I'd be so lucky to be with you, but...I don't feel ready yet." She reached up to cup his cheek, brushing her thumb over the soft whiskers she found there. "I just need a little time. Is that okay?"

His answering smile was brilliant as the sun, and she found herself wanting to never let it fade.


	4. Chase

**Chase  
** By Myriddin

"Catch me if you can!"

Sansa's voice broke through the cool autumn air enveloping the garden, taunting him playfully with a wink thrown over her shoulder. Auburn hair streaming behind her like liquid fire, the pale blue length of her skirt whispering seductively around her legs as she raced off down the garden path.

Jon reached for her arm, but missed, grinning delightedly as he regained his balance and took off after her, listening to the ringing sound of her laughter on the breeze.

The chase was on.

He bounded after her as they dodged through trees and bushes. It was the most light-hearted and free he had felt in ages, as a flash of blue caught his eye and he veered to the right, trapping her behind a small fountain. He waggled a chiding finger, growling playfully as they circled round and round.

It was Sansa who broke the impasse, darting off to the side in hopes of finding the safety of the nearby foliage, only to be thwarted as she slipped in the dewy grass, Jon at her side just in time to catch her before she collided with the ground.

He stopped a few steps behind where he had caught her, his grip around her easing once the imminent danger had passed. Sansa chose not to break the embrace, snuggling closer to share the warmth of his jacket.

He stirred ever so slightly, and though she couldn't see him dip his head toward her, she felt the light brush of his breath against her cheek just before he whispered in her ear. "Sansa."

She merely leaned into him, feeling the charged air between them…

"Jon, Sansa! Where are you two?" Robb's voice broke through the air, thoroughly shattered whatever moment had been forming between them. They pulled apart like exploding shrapnel, staring at one another with wide eyes and baffled wonder.

"You can't leave me alone for this thing!" Robb continued, his voice drawing closer, "Not with Mom playing matchmaker. You just had to have such a cute kid, San. Now she's determined to get more grandchildren."

Jon and Sansa shared a secretive grin, the silence continuing between them as they held out for the few precious moments that remained before Robb found them.

They didn't mind the quiet- they were too tongue-tied to try for words.


	5. Matchmaker, Matchmaker

**Matchmaker, Matchmaker  
** By Myriddin

Both of them stared, neither willing to break in their battle of wills. The younger blinked with misleading innocence, the elder narrowing his eyes. 

"One cookie."

Eddrick slowly shook his head, smiling beatifically. Robb sighed.

"Two cookies."

Eddrick tapped his finger against his chin as he deliberated. Golden curls and big blue eyes created a cherubic image that contrasted with his scheming smirk. It was a look Robb remembered seeing from Sansa when they were younger, just before she enacted some epic revenge for whatever prank he had pulled that week.

"Two. An' a wrange hat."

"Two cookies and a ranger hat? Like Jon's?"

Eddrick nodded eagerly and Robb chuckled. "Deal. Now, you know what to say?"

"Yep," his nephew affirmed, excitedly kicking his legs as Robb got up to grab the cookie jar (something he and Jon definitely hadn't owned before Sansa moved in). "Momma loves Jon, 'cause she talks 'bout him lots and lots!"

Robb slid a couple of snickerdoodles across the table, grinning as his offerings were accepted with gusto. He would definitely have the spot of favorite uncle placeholdered for a while.


	6. A Little Push

**A Little Push  
** By Myriddin

If Arya had to spent another afternoon watching her sister and Jon make moon eyes at each other, she was going to either vomit or hit someone.

She would have been a little more sympathetic if this nonsense hadn't been going on for months. The indifference she remembered seemed to have melted away the moment they set eyes on each other again, and the silent pining was frankly becoming nauseating. Usually Eddrick would be enough of a distraction to keep at least some of their attention off each other, but her nephew was currently perched on Robb's shoulders.

The moment she saw Jon pull out the puppy look, her mind was made up.

Letting herself fall from where she'd been walking beside Jon, she ignored Robb's suspicious look and braced herself, planting a foot firmly against Jon's backside and giving him a shove forward.

Jon stumbled forward, his arms doing an impressive waterwheel impression. Rickon managed to duck out of the way and Sansa wasn't as fortunate, the two of them tangling together and just barely managed to stay upright.

Their faces inches apart and bodies pressed together, Jon and Sansa froze, gazing at each other with a sort of startled realization that made Arya want to smack them. Yes, they were both equally affected by their proximity, what a _shock_! Could it he/she feel the same way?

Idiots.

She managed to keep her composure enough not to grim smugly, but she did accept Robb's congratulatory high-five. It was well-earned.


	7. Stuck

_Eddrick finds himself in a tight situation, Jon comes to the rescue._

"How _exactly_ did you manage to get stuck in there, boyo?" Jon asked genially, getting down on his hands and knees to look beneath a couch set so low it nearly touched the floor.

Eddrick's voice was small and subdued as it floated up from beneath the couch. "Smokey hided here. I wanted t' play too." Smoke the cat, Catelyn's gray tabby. Jon made a mental note to mention to Sansa that she might want to explain to Edd why little boys couldn't squeeze into the same places as cats.

Jon shook his head with a chuckle. "I see. Don't worry, buddy. I'm going to get you out of there, okay?"

"Okay."

Jon maneuvered himself into a crouching position, braced his hands against either side of the edge of the couch, and lifted. With a grunt of exertion, he leveraged the furniture up about a foot. "Alright, scoot on out of there, Edd."

Eddrick was quick to scramble out, attaching himself to Jon's leg as Jon carefully lowered the sofa back down to its legs. "That's scary," the boy mumbled, his voice muffled as he buried his face in Jon's denim-clad thigh.

Resting his hand on the back of Eddrick's head, Jon carded his fingers through sandy locks. "I'm sorry it was scary, buddy. Do you want to go get a snack?"

"Can we make smoothies?"

"Smoothies it is."


End file.
